Mrs. T's Fourth Grade Blog

Concert

2009-12-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Reminder: The CGES Christmas program will be held Dec. 17 at 7:30 pm. Hope to see you there!

Christmas Party

2009-12-16T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Classroom Christmas party will be held from 12:30 - 1:10 pm on December 22.
Parents are invited to join us for this festive event!

Glogster

2009-11-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

The kids in my reading class have just begun their work on an online project called Glogster. Ask your child to show you what they've been working on. I think you'll be impressed!

Red Ribbon Week

2009-10-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Red Ribbon Month is October of each year. Red Ribbon Week is the last week in October. Our school is celebrating and discussing drug awareness/avoidance with several exciting activities put together by our school counselors. Please ask your child about it!

Homework

2009-10-26T16:13:00.001-07:00

Predictable Homework:
Silent Reading - 15 minutes everyday
Mastering Math Facts - 5 minutes everyday
Read Draw Solve - Everyday
Handwriting - Assignments given on Tuesday and due Friday
Spelling Activity - Assignment given on Friday and due Tuesday
Other assignments from time to time include studying for tests, skills practice, and finishing classroom work.

*Please refer to agenda for complete assignment list.

Please remember to help your child find a time and place for homework and assist on an "as needed" basis only. Support your child's homework progress by asking them questions instead of giving them answers and you should see a leap in self-confidence!

BAIP

2009-10-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

BAIP is a site that the students can visit for extra practice and review. Your child has his or her username and password for BAIP in their agenda. Please allow your child to practice their skills on BAIP at home if possible!

Halloween

2009-10-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

Please join us for our Halloween Party at 1:30pm on Friday October 30th. The school wide parade will follow at 2pm. Please come help us celebrate!

Parent Teacher conferences

2009-10-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed meeting with parents to discuss their student's progress. I am so happy to have the opportunity to talk with you and share a bit of our classroom with you in that way. Thanks for attending your conference and for supporting your child in that way.

2009-10-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

The kids have elected Bailey Lewis as our classroom ambassador. Bailey will be working with ambassadors from other classrooms to help our students with problems, help address classroom issues, and to do important and special jobs around the school. We look forward to having a new ambassador each nine weeks! Congrats to Bailey!

2009-10-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ask your child about their Glogster account and the virtual stores the students have created! They had a lot of fun doing it in math class to practice calculating totals using decimals and making/counting back change.

Reading

2009-09-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

We are studying text features in Reading. These include things like the table of contents, index, headings, titles, chapters, bold-faced words, etc. The kids can really use this information as they are learning to more independently read their subject area text books. Please read one of their textbooks with them and practice locating the parts of the textbook and the text features.

Site of the Week!

2009-09-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Practice your multiplication facts here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/timestables/flash3.shtml

Parent Note on Place Value from BAIP

2009-08-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

Introduction
This activity sheet will provide you with suggestions on how you can practice the concepts for this standard with your child. There are two types of activities that are available to you on this activity sheet: Activities and Teachable Moments. Activities offer you suggestions on short, structured activities that you can complete with your child. Teachable Moments provide you with quick, easy activities that you can integrate into your daily routine.

Parent Note:
This week in class, we are working on mathematical concepts that are tied with the fourth grade Kansas Mathematics Standard 1, Benchmark 2, Indicator K1, which states: Standard 1 that your child will use numerical and computational concepts and procedures in a variety of situations by Benchmark 2 demonstrating an understanding of whole numbers with a special emphasis on Place value; recognizing, using, and explaining the concepts of properties as they relate to whole numbers; and extending these properties to fractions (including mixed numbers), decimals, and money. The student shows Indicator K1 by identifying, modeling, reading, and writing numbers using numerals, words, and expanded notation from hundredths place through one-hundred thousands place.

Overview for Parents:
This lesson is about demonstrating an understanding of whole numbers with a special emphasis on place value. The numerical system uses periods to identify a group of three digits of a number, separated from other digits by a comma. Within each period, numbers are grouped by tens. Each group of ten determines a Digit's place value. Place value terms are read as the following: hundredths, Tenths, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, and one-hundred thousands. A place value chart helps students visualize the value of each digit.

Activities that require children to recognize, use, and explain place value as it relates to whole numbers help them develop an understanding of number sense. To identify, model, read, and write numbers using different forms of whole numbers, children need to understand the place value system. Place value can be defined as the value of a digit depending on where it is placed in a number. For example, in the number 10,956, the digit 1 is in the ten-thousands place. Once a child understands the value of a given digit, the child then has a deeper understanding of what the digit's value is. This allows children to successfully read and write a number in various forms, i.e. numbers (standard), word, and expanded notations. Expanded notation is the method of writing numbers as the sum of powers of ten or as the sum of its units. For example, the number eight hundred seventy-four thousand, two-hundred thirty-nine and thirteen hundredths = 874,239.13 and 874,239.13 = (8 × 100,000) + (7 × 10,000) + (4 × 1,000) + (2 × 100) + (3 × 10) + (9 × 1) + (1 × .1) + (3 × .01) = 800,000 + 70,000 + 4,000 + 200 + 30 + 9 + 0.1 + 0.03.

Concepts:

* Use number sense to identify, model, read, and write numbers in number form using numerals from the hundredths place through one-hundred thousands place.
* Use number sense to identify, model, read, and write numbers in Word form using numerals from hundredths place through one-hundred thousands place.
* Use number sense to identify, model, read, and write numbers in Expanded form using numbers from hundredths place through one-hundred thousands place.

Place Value

2009-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

Math: Beginning with the decimal and moving right, the places in place value of a number are as follows: tenths, hundredths, thousandths, ten thousandths, hundred thousandths, millionths, etc. This will be helpful information for you for the Place Value Game link on the blog.

Site of the Week!

2009-08-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Please visit this site with your child!

Place Value Pirates: http://www.mrnussbaum.com/placevaluepirates.htm

What is a tenth?

2009-08-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

In our place value study, we are now working on decimals. Today the students were introduced to the "tenths" place. They are already familiar with ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, and hundred thousands, but "tenths" are new to them.

As an activity to help your child understand parts of a whole, I would encourage you to use everyday opportunities and experiences to explore the value of "tenths" with your child. If you are cooking, talk about what a "tenth" of a cup might look like. If you bake a cake, allow your child to cut it into ten parts to see a tenth of a cake. When you watch TV, notice the times of athletic events that score runners to the tenth of a second. All of these will give your child real life experience with the concept of tenths, which will aid in their overall understanding of numbers, decimals, and fractions.

2009-08-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for your second full week as fourth graders! We will be learning about decimals this week in Math as well as expanded form and expanded notation. We will be starting a story in Language Arts as soon as we finish up those "Goodbye Summer" poems. Our reading class will be looking forward to sharing their "Me Tubs" with the class as our inference activity. Let's make it a fabulous week!

Welcome

2009-08-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our CGES fourth grade class blog. Please feel free to comment and ask questions here. We will also share work we do in class here. Looking forward to a great year!